A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14 eBook

On the 22d in the morning, the ewe and ram, I had
with so much care and trouble brought to this place,
were both found dead, occasioned, as was supposed,
by eating some poisonous plant. Thus my hopes
of stocking this country with a breed of sheep, were
blasted in a moment. About noon, we were visited,
for the first time since I arrived, by some of the
natives, who dined with us; and it was not a little
they devoured. In the evening they were dismissed
with presents.[1]

Early in the morning of the 24th, I sent Mr Gilbert
the master to sound about the rock we had discovered
in the entrance of the sound. Myself, accompanied
by Captain Furneaux and Mr Forster, went in a boat
to the west bay on a shooting party. In our way,
we met a large canoe in which were fourteen or fifteen
people. One of the first questions they asked
was for Tupia, the person I brought from Otaheite
on my former voyage; and they seemed to express some
concern when we told them he was dead. These people
made the same enquiry of Captain Furneaux when he first
arrived; and, on my return to the ship in the evening,
I was told that a canoe had been along-side, the
people in which seemed to be strangers, and who also
enquired for Tupia.[2] Late in the evening Mr Gilbert
returned, having sounded all round the rock, which
he found to be very small and steep.

Nothing worthy of notice happened till the 29th, when
several of the natives made us a visit, and brought
with them a quantity of fish, which they exchanged
for nails, &c. One of these people I took over
to Motuara, and shewed him some potatoes planted there
by Mr Fannen, master of the Adventure. There
seemed to be no doubt of their succeeding; and the
man was so well pleased with them, that he, of his
own accord, began to hoe the earth up about the plants.
We next took him to the other gardens, and shewed
him the turnips, carrots, and parsnips; roots which,
together with the potatoes, will be of more real use
to them than all the other articles we had planted.
It was easy to give them an idea of these roots, by
comparing them with such as they knew.

Two or three families of these people now took up
their abode near us, employing themselves daily in
fishing, and supplying us with the fruits of their
labour; the good effects of which we soon felt.
For we were, by no means, such expert fishers as they
are; nor were any of our methods of fishing equal
to theirs.

On the 2d of June, the ships being nearly ready to
put to sea, I sent on shore on the east side of the
sound, two goats, male and female. The former
was something more than a year old; but the latter
was much older. She had two fine kids, some time
before we arrived in Dusky Bay, which were killed
by cold, as hath been already mentioned. Captain
Furneaux also put on shore, in Cannibal Cove, a boar
and two breeding sows; so that we have reason to hope
this country will in time be stocked with these animals,
if they are not destroyed by the natives before they
become wild; for, afterwards, they will be in no danger.
But as the natives knew nothing of their being left
behind, it may be some time before they are discovered.